Thomas Lam emerges as one of the youngest leaders in the family association communities

(SAN FRANCISCO) On June 15, Thomas Lam was not only sworn in as the new President of the Oakland Consolidated Chinese Association, he also has emerged as one of the youngest leaders in both the San Francisco and Oakland Chinatown family association communities.

Lam, 47, has actively participated in both San Francisco and Oakland Chinatowns' Lam family associations for two decades because of his residency and business in both cities.

Lam has resided in San Francisco since he immigrated to the United States as a teenager. As a mortgage broker, he co-founded the Beatitudes Realty, Inc. with his younger sister in 2016 and it is located in Oakland Chinatown.

Lam made history for his Lim Family Benevolent Society in San Francisco Chinatown in 2019. At the age of 43, Lam was elected by the Society's Board of Directors and members as its President for 2019 and 2020. He was the youngest President in his family association’s history.

At the Oakland Chinatown's Lam Family Benevolent Association, Lam was elected by their members as their President and became its youngest President. Lam made history again when he was sworn in as the new President of the Oakland Consolidated Chinese Association for a two-year term 2023-2024 on June 15.

In the Chinatown family association communities across the country, we have always seen their presidents who are elders at the age of 60s and above. By comparison, Lam has been much younger than many Chinatown leaders.

Lam acknowledged that it has been a challenge for the Chinatown family association communities in the United States. "We need to think further about the future leaders who could take over and carry on the history and culture of family associations in Chinatowns for more generations. It is very important for our community," said Lam in an interview at San Francisco Chinatown.

"I was inspired by my first landlord family in the United States to serve at the San Francisco family associations when I first came to San Francisco as a new immigrant," said Lam. "Our generation should inspire more young people to join us. It has been one of my goals to serve at the family associations."

Lam was born in Hong Kong and educated in Taiwan for a few years in elementary school. He came to San Francisco at the age of 15 with his parents and two sisters. "Our family settled down at an in-law apartment in the Richmond District after we landed in San Francisco," Lam recalled.

Lam's landlord was a leader at the Kwan Family Association in Chinatown. The landlord's son who was in his 20s was the head of the Kwan Association's youth group.

The landlord's family members always invited Lam to go to the events and activities in Chinatown with them. That was Lam's initial impression and experience about the Chinatown family association community.

When Lam finished his high school education, he joined the U.S. Army and was stationed in Japan for four years.

Lam came back to San Francisco and worked as a banker. When he was encouraged and advised by his manager in the bank to get more involved in community service for better advancement in his career, he immediately followed his mother to serve at the Lim Family Benevolent Society in San Francisco Chinatown.

"Because of my previous experience when I was young joining the youth group activities at the family associations, I have since enjoyed serving in this community," said Lam. Up to the present time, Lam has been actively and continuously serving in Chinatown for two decades.

In 2018, Lam was surprised to see himself to be elected by his board and members as the President of Lim Family Benevolent Society for the term of 2019 and 2020. He remembered that in the same year, the Lam family association in Los Angeles had just elected a new president who was in his early 40s as one of the youngest presidents in their community. Lam mentioned that in the San Francisco meeting. Then he also got elected by his members and made history.

During the past few years, Lam was also elected as the President of Oakland's Lim Family Benevolent Association. His leadership in Oakland Chinatown helped him to gain the President position at the Oakland Consolidated Chinese Association which is made up of eight family associations there.

Lam is a Christian and has devoted his time to serve in the church as well. "People are for me, I am for people. We all need to give back to the community and have to remember where the water is from when we drink the water," Lam said his landlord and the family had treated him so well when he first came to the United States. They had inspired him and supported him. He wanted to follow in their footsteps to help many more others. ”It is a spirit that all of us follow,” said Lam.

As a tradition, almost all family associations in San Francisco and Oakland have provided scholarships for the high school students every year. However, most of the scholarship awardees would not come back to the associations anymore after studying in colleges.

Lam applauded a model of a family association in Toronto to establish a bigger youth group with a long list of activities to bring interests to the younger generations. “We can do our best to meet the needs of the young people to encourage them to come back to serve the community,” said Lam. It will be his plan as a leader in San Francisco and Oakland Chinatowns.